Wild season preview: In Year 2, Ryan Suter shines in the light

By the time July 3, 2012, rolled around, the Wild was fairly certain it would land Ryan Suter. Tiny problem: It had yet to sit across a table, look the free-agent defenseman in the eyes and have a heart-to-heart.

That morning, Wild owner Craig Leipold, General Manager Chuck Fletcher and coach Mike Yeo boarded a seven-seat Learjet at the St. Paul airport with Suter's financial adviser, Tom Sagissor, for a recruiting trip.

Before heading east to Wisconsin, the gents detoured north to International Falls, Minn., where they picked up Suter's agent, Neil Sheehy, and generously gave him a lift to Suter's meeting with the Wild and, awkwardly, the Detroit Red Wings.

"Ultimately, Ryan was ground zero, but we were still very confident we were getting him," Leipold said. "And then, we landed at the wrong airport!"

Leipold laughs heartily after the memory pops into his head. He didn't want the Red Wings to even know the Wild was coming, so the team planned to land at a municipal airport in Middleton, Wis., which is closer to Suter's offseason home.

"Somehow, though, I kept referring to it as 'Madison' to the pilots," Leipold said. "As soon as we land, I go, 'Oh no!' I run up to the cockpit and say, 'Hey guys, we're at the wrong airport.'

"What I didn't know was my office had already deemed that [Middleton] airport too small for the jet."

"Yup," Leipold said, roaring. "And to top it off? Our jet parked right next to the Red Wings' jet!"

Suter, 28, is nothing like most hockey players. He doesn't seek the limelight, nor does he want it.

He might be the son of Bob Suter, who won Olympic gold with the 1980 "Miracle on Ice," and might have grown up watching his uncle, Gary Suter, star in the NHL, but, said Ryan, "All these kids dream, 'I want to play in the NHL.' I never did."

"For me, it was college hockey. My uncle played at Wisconsin. My dad played at Wisconsin. For me, it was play college, work at my dad's rink when I'm older and then work landscaping with my brother. That's all I ever wanted."

Suter turned down more money to play in Philadelphia, the same money to play in Detroit, similar money in Nashville and countless other contract offers to sign with Minnesota as a $98 million tag-team with Parise.

After a self-described "terrible start" last season, Suter recovered dramatically, forming an impressive partnership with rookie Jonas Brodin to lead the NHL in average ice time per game (27 minutes, 16 seconds) and finish third among defensemen in scoring (32 points). Suter finished second in Norris Trophy voting.

"It's nice that's over with," Suter said.

"Nice what's over with?" Suter was asked.

"The attention," he said. "I'd rather just go out and have nothing said and nothing written about me. Looking back now, I guess it's pretty cool. But it doesn't make a guy's career, I don't think, if they win a Norris Trophy or are a finalist. I mean, my uncle was one of the best defensemen in the league for a long time, and he never won the Norris. He was Rookie of the Year, but I don't think a Norris makes or breaks you.

"It just was kind of an inconvenience."

"I know I probably shouldn't say that, but it is," Suter said in his typical quiet, laid-back way. "I want to be the best player. I just want to be the best player … without anybody noticing. Some guys love the attention. Some guys play in the NHL just so they can say they played in the NHL. I just like playing … and want to win a Stanley Cup."

Jake Dowell, who plays for the Iowa Wild, played with Suter at Wisconsin and is one of Suter's closest friends, said Suter understands that attention and off-ice responsibilities, such as promoting the team, come with the contract.

"Sometimes people think he's grumpy or rude, but he just is shy and he doesn't like the spotlight," Dowell said. "He likes to go out there and do his thing. That's it. He's awesome at what he does, and he'd like to blend in."

During the offseason, Suter can hardly be reached. He returns home to his 120-acre farm (he rents corn and alfalfa fields to local farmers) and exquisite home outside Madison (Parise calls it a compound) and is all about his wife and two children.

The household's one rule: "No talking about hockey," Suter said.

Every morning at 6:30, Suter's 2½-year-old son, Brooks, wakes up to work out with Dad and Uncle Garrett.

"Well, he drinks orange juice and watches Mickey Mouse while we work out," Suter said.

Then, Brooks will spend all day outside with Suter, who in jeans and boots works on his property with his brother. They put in sod, mow, pull out the log splitter and clean up the woods.

This past summer, Suter built an enormous retaining wall made of boulders to protect the tennis court he built. He poured concrete on his big driveway, painted a 500-foot fence.

"I like to always be doing stuff," Suter said. "We're building a home here in Minnesota. I go there every morning before practice. After practice, I go home, get Brooks and look at the home again. I wish I had all my tools here so I could be doing a lot of the building."

Everyone says Suter gets it from his dad.

"We played a midget tournament in Wisconsin, and some of us stayed with Ryan and his family," said Rob Davidge, 29, teammates with Suter at Culver (Ind.) Military Academy 13 years ago and now a financial adviser in Columbus, Ohio. "We played at the rink they own [Capitol Ice Arena in Middleton].

"His stepmom is working the snack bar. His dad was on the Zamboni and sweeping up the locker rooms. I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me. This guy was on the 1980 team.' It just seemed so very common, so very … nice."

Suter grew up playing for the Madison Capitols, then one year at Culver. His biggest rival — a flashy, hyped-up kid who played for the Minnesota Blades and Shattuck-St. Mary's — was Zach Parise.

"We'd slash and hack and fight and beat the heck out of each other," Suter said.

The two would eventually become pals playing for the United States in various international tournaments.

"He is so good," Parise said. "He's also tougher than people give him credit for. He's got farmer's strength, the way he knocks players off the puck."

Last year, Suter secretly played three weeks despite a broken rib following checks from Los Angeles' Justin Williams and St. Louis' Chris Porter in back-to-back games.

It was obvious something was wrong because at some junctures, Suter could barely shoot or catch a pass.

"It was excruciating," he said. "I could hardly breathe. They had to shoot it up every game."

Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said Suter does all the little things that often go unseen but that coaches love.

"He plays the score of the game as well as anybody in the league," Hitchcock said. "He was the most underrated player in the whole [2010] Olympics. He was more competitive against fierce competition than anybody in the tournament."

Suter is a true leader, taking Brodin under his wings and standing up to his buddy David Backes, the St. Louis Blues captain, in a Sept. 25 preseason game when Suter felt Backes was picking on 19-year-old Matt Dumba.

He doesn't seem to sweat, despite topping 30 minutes 10 times last season. And there never seems to be anxious energy when Suter is on the ice.

"A lot of defensemen think when they want stuff to settle down, they have to work harder and be more aggressive, run at a guy," Suter said. "I try to do the opposite. If it's chaos and we're trapped in our end, I try to slow it down where I sit back and don't run out of position.

"So I guess I try to do the opposite of everybody. I try to step back, watch the play and then outthink."

This is why Hitchcock calls Suter an "intellect."

And this is why Leipold doled out the dough for Suter. In Nashville, Suter's former defense partner, Shea Weber, got all the notoriety because of the big shot and big hits.

But Leipold, the former Predators owner, said: "We all knew in Nashville that Ryan Suter was the guy. He's the guy that made that duo work. When Ryan was down, it just wasn't the same defense in Nashville. We're just really happy it all worked out here."

Suter is, too.

Yeah, Suter is nothing like most hockey players.